22nd-February-2008.



Panama is a strange country, geographically speaking.

It is narrow, elongated and runs East and West, rather than North and South like its' neighbours.

The Caribbean, therefore is to the North and the Pacific Ocean is to the South.

One road traverses the country from Costa Rica to Colombia, the Pan American highway.
A divided four lane highway, it is paved, but has been repaired so often that its also very bumpy.
Our diesel Toyota Land Cruiser handled it very well.

One strange phenomenon is that almost all Panamanians travel, even at slow speeds, in the left hand lane.
Almost as though they had been trained to drive in Ontario. My theory is that the trucks have so damaged the right lane,
that travelling in the left lane is much smoother, even for a clapped out Lada, of which there are quite a few.

Passing on the right is therefore a routine practice, which no one seems to object to. In fact, in Panama City, horn blowing
is a refined form of the art, but on the highways, one hears not a single beep. Highway travel is pretty safe and predictable.

Gasoline costs about 85 cents a litre and, as usual, most cars and trucks run on diesel fuel, as did our Toyota, and that costs
about 75 cents a litre.

The Pan American is as boring and bill board infested as the I95, but turning to the South produces beach and club resorts
everywhere, and turning to the North carries you rapidly into some beautiful mountain villages and developments.

Almost all the roads, main and secondary in Panama are paved (Costa Rica please note!) and in good condition.
Driving in the mountains is a bit like crossing the Swiss Alps, but outside of the cities, we did not encounter any dangerous
or irresponsible driving. Most Panamanians rely on little minibuses to get around and in the resort areas, the transportation is
usually a big, expensive SUV of some kind.

Our Toyota delivered about 24 mpg overall and that consisted of some highway work, a lot of slow driving through beach
communities and some quite spectacular mountain climbing. Again I have to say how much modern diesels are appropriate
to this kind of motoring and how quickly I would I would acquire one should I live in one of these mid-American countries.

Do not, under any circumstances try to navigate your own way about Panama City. Maps are hard to find and the maps
provided by the rental agencies are useless in the city. There are no street names and the overhead signs bear no resemblance
to the names on the maps. It is VERY easy to get lost in Panama City. The rapid construction of high rise buildings has forever
cancelled the hope of ever producing any kind of grid system and in consequence, your sense of direction rapidly becomes confused.

Horn honking and red light running are common and intimidating practices.
No one speaks English, so trying to get directions is useless.

On two occasions, we got completely lost and had to hire a taxi driver to lead us back to our hotel.
Since the average cab fair is 75 cents per passenger, almost anywhere in the city, this method of finding your way back is not
as drastic as it sounds.

Use cabs wherever possible.

If you can find a rental company that will deliver and pick up your car, pay the extra, it's worth it.

On CNN (one of the few English TV channels available), I saw Rabid Rick, the CEO of GM saying that although GM was
losing much market share in America, they were making it up in China and South America. Not in Panama you ain't, Rick.
I saw maybe three American cars the whole time I was there, but I also saw thousands of Toyotas, Nissans and Mitsubishis.
Most of the cabs are small Japanese products and most are in poor shape, but what do you want for a $3 taxi ride?

Most hotels will quote you prices that are double or triple that, obviously the doorman gets a cut.
Just say no and walk to the edge of the kerb. A taxi will appear as if by magic.

All in all, Panama is highly recommendable as a winter destination. Rainy season starts in April and you would probably want
to be out of there by then.